Emphasis Quotes? (Word Usage)

Emphasis Quotes

Although this series, as you can see displayed clearly in its title, is focused on not using the wrong word, there are some other ways to go wrong in your writing that count as common misuses as well. Quotation marks are not themselves words of course, but they keep such close company with them that any errors you make using them will have a definite impact on your writing, making it confusing, sloppy looking, or both.

A first point for all of you who have teachers or professors who are sticklers for correct usage is that "quotation mark" is the correct term for those little lines which we see surrounding the word "quotation mark" in this sentence. Many people refer to these simply as "quotes," as in, "I made sure to put quotes around the titles of poems in my last essay." This is widely accepted, and not many people will notice the problem if you do this, but if you are dealing with a true grammar drill sergeant, keep it in mind.

There are many proper uses for quotation marks, the most obvious of which is to enclose a direct quotation. In any essay you write, it is vital that anything you take directly from another written document be surrounded by quotation marks, clearly separating your words and ideas from those of another. In works of fiction, authors also use quotation marks to show where characters are speaking directly, as opposed to the voice of the narrator which is not in quotation marks (unless he or she is involved in a direct conversation with another character and is reporting that as it happened). Two final straightforward uses of quotation marks occur when naming the titles of poems, short stories, essays, and articles, as well as when referring to a word, term, or letter when it is being referred to as such. For example, if I am speaking about the "a" sound in the word "had," the quotation marks are used as they appear here.

The quotation mark also operates in more dubious ways, and using them in cases other than those listed above can be trickier. One such use occurs when authors employ what are known as "scare quotes." These are used to indicate that the author is aware that the term in quotation marks is offensive, not considered appropriate, or at least problematic. In the following example, we can see what the author thinks of the term wrapped in scare quotes: "I have often been accused of having 'gay' taste in movies, but the people using this term are not speaking about sexual orientation. Something is 'gay' apparently when it is considered stupid, silly, or pathetic, and the rise of this term with this meaning in youth culture is both puzzling and unfortunate." The author clearly does not agree with the term as it is being used, and the scare quotes make this clear by distancing the author from the term, and showing an awareness that it is inappropriate in this situation.

A related device is known as "air quotes," often used in conversation and sometimes in writing. This is a borderline case, as some purists disapprove of this use in writing, whereas other professionals see it as acceptable. When used in this manner, the quotation marks indicate that the quoted term is not really the thing it seems to be, as in the sentence "The 'meatloaf' we had at the cafeteria looked more like a living thing than a meal." Here, the author uses quotation marks to cast doubt on whether the meatloaf was actually even meatloaf, and we assume from the rest of the sentence that it was not.

A final and frustrating use of the quotation mark is for emphasis, but this is not considered acceptable usage at all, and using them for these purposes marks the writing in which it appears as amateurish at least. This is most often seen in advertising, though it also unfortunately comes up in many other more formal kinds of writing. Take the following slogan for a take-out restaurant as an example: "Our wings are the 'best' in town!" Here, the owners are trying to highlight the word "best," but what they end up doing is causing us to wonder if "best" is surrounded by scare or air quotes, totally destroying the intended effect. When you want to stress something, use italics, or even bold font, but never, ever the quotation mark.